Lords of cricket
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Aftab Siddiqui
June 21, 2009, is a day we will remember for quite a long time. For Pakistanis both at home and abroad it was a day where we came to forget all the bad things that have been happening in our homeland. The best thing was that it was a day when the whole nation became one and our cricket team did all of us proud and the 11 men in green shirts played as if they were the lords of cricket.
They proved to the ICC and its stodgy bureaucracy that the game is much more colourful and exciting when 11 green shirts are in the middle and what a travesty it is to exclude them from the international schedule. All credit goes to Younis Khan, to his players and the staff who have worked tirelessly with them. As a captain, it has to be said that he has made an excellent contribution to Pakistan cricket in a very short time. He has instilled confidence in Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik and he has welcomed back in to the fold of the team and what a much-needed return it was Abdur Razzaq. From what one could see in this tournament, Younis seems to be a brave and inspiring captain and a sincere man and one can say with a fair degree of justification that his insight into the game is much greater than most other recent Pakistani captains.
Younis is from Mardan but played his cricket in Karachi and it is said that the man never missed a game despite the city's ups and downs in recent years. He was always at the ground prepared to go in and play at a moment's notice. His adopted city is his biggest fan and it can lay claim to nurturing him from a cricket-crazy young lad from Mardan into a man who has now led his team proudly to win one of the greatest cricket competitions at that too at Lord's. After his announcement that he intends to now retire from T20 cricket and concentrate on test and one-day cricket, like a successful leader he leaves the national team in much stronger shape than when he took the charge. Younis, you have made us proud and players like you make the game of cricket richer.
The victory also shows that despite what has been happening in our cricket, that despite the grisly and wanton attack on the Sri Lankan team by terrorists, we should not, will not and cannot change our way of life and love for the game that is cricket. If we were to do that, we would be doing exactly what the terrorists would want us to do. However, and rather regrettably so, the ICC has done just that by dropping Pakistan as a host country for the one-day world cup scheduled for next year.
Clearly, after this win, the ICC needs to rethink this decision because having Pakistan as a host with its multi-talented team and its knowledgeable cricketing public would be very good for the game of cricket. If the English team can go on and play a test match in India a few days after the Mumbai attacks why cannot Pakistan be given a chance to show that it can also learn from its mistakes? Or is it that the ICC could not possibly say no to India's vast cricket market and hence deprive itself of massive revenues? The ICC needs to not only follow the big money but also should be an institution that plays its part in helping cricket survive and prosper.
Not mentioning the Indian Premier League (IPL) here also would be unfair. By dropping all its Pakistani players from its second tournament held just weeks ago, it showed that it was indulging in discrimination based on a player's nationality that it was punishing a whole country and its cricket players for the mistakes of a handful of terrorists. Also, what this did was to allow their own Indian players a great platform from where to build a T20 team for the world cup but that was not to be, thanks to 'Team India's' shabby performance.
This occasion should be used by us to maximize its potential for making Pakistanis a happier people also because that is something we all desperately need to be these days. For starters, the trophy and the team must be taken to all major cities and towns and ceremonies should be held ideally in stadiums where the general public can come and pay tribute to the players. They should be done on a large scale and with adequate security and planning. If done successfully this could be our answer to critics who say we cannot provide appropriate security at public events. Also, this demonstration of organizational ability and commitment to security would be a more effective strategy than the ongoing legal action.
The writer is an avid cricket fan who lives in London. Email: aftabarif@ hotmail.com
Lords of cricket